There are highly complex technical matters affecting certain types of developments or plan proposals which demand environmental impact assessments, traffic studies or compliance with specific national or regional policy.

Communities are to be more actively involved earlier and continuously in the plan preparation process, both at regional and local levels than has traditionally occurred. This is essential for ownership and legitimacy of planning policies. It is against this background that the National Planning Forum has prepared and endorsed the following ten principles, for the guidance of everyone involved but particularly for local planning authorities and developers and their agents.

The Planning and Compulsory Purchase Act 2004 requires local planning authorities to be proactively engaging with their many communities in the development control and plan making process and to set out in a Statement of Community Involvement how this will be achieved.

Communities are to be more actively involved earlier and continuously in the plan preparation process, both at regional and local levels than has traditionally occurred. This is essential for ownership and legitimacy of planning policies. This practice note guides developers and householders.

The ten principles are:

These principles include the need for community involvement to be a permanent thread running through all planning and development activity. The process must be transparent and accountable with all parties being clear about the aims, to avoid raised expectations.

For community groups, these ten principles can be a model against which the actions of local planning authorities and developers can be measured – but more positively they can form a basis on which continuing dialogue with the major players can be established.

Following the ten priciples will avoid raised expectations, encourage and faciltate participation, ensure representative involvement from the community, identify the favoured options and acknowldege and reward effort. One of the main principles is to build a shared responsibility for success.

Local Government Association
info@lga.gov.uk

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//2005

National Planning Forum

research

Urban Policy > Urban environment > Urban renewal

Brownfield development, City centre development